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Students on their way to Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School were shaken Thursday morning after their bus went into a ditch to avoid an oversized truck hauling a piece of heavy equipment.

The accident occurred shortly after 7 a.m. as the bus, carrying about 25 students, drove in from state Route 118 down Harris Pond Road in Ross Township, said high school Principal Doug Klopp, who responded to the scene.

As the bus came up a small hill, Klopp said a wide-load truck taking up most of the narrow road forced the driver to go off the road. Harris Pond Road has no shoulder, and the bus ended up in a stone-lined drainage ditch.

One student was taken to a local hospital by ambulance to be checked out, Klopp said. He said another received a brush burn when she fell on the ground while exiting the bus, and a third complained of some "mild discomfort" from being bumped around.

A broken window sprayed some glass on the driver, but it didn't cut him, Klopp said.

"It was not a bad accident compared to what it could be," he said.

The driver was able to get the bus back on the road and wait for emergency personnel to arrive. Numerous local fire and ambulance companies as well as state police from the Shickshinny barracks responded.

"It was refreshing to see how quickly they were there and how well they responded," Klopp said. "Everybody out there was phenomenal."

Klopp doesn't believe there was any misconduct: Harris Pond Road is narrow, and large trucks from Pikes Creek Site Contractors frequently travel it on the way to Route 118.

"If you look at the size of the road, there isn't anywhere to go," he said.

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